On this day (July 17th)................................

July 17th 2014.

A Wryneck near Monbetsu 4 years ago today.

One of the more interesting summer visitors to Hokkaido and one that can be difficult to photograph. This was one of a pair nesting in a very public place. The tree stump has since been removed though...............

2017 Best Of #5

Some more shots from earlier in the year, these are from spring.................

Sakura

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom.............

And again

The Wrynecks were still in the park today..................

Wrynecks

There were 2 or 3 Wrynecks in one of the local parks this morning................

North Hokkaido 2015 #3

We spent another morning in the Mombetsu area............

2014 Best of #4

 


 


 

 


Some more of my fave pics from 2014, these were from the summer................

North Hokkaido Trip 2014 #3

The weather improved after the first misty couple of days.............

Phoned in Wryneck

Wryneck near Monbetsu this morning. Processed in camera and on phone again.

OMG not again

A Wryneck on the edge of Hakodate this afternoon, it was part of a family, here's one of the young ones.

Regular readers of this blog may remember that my last 2 summers have been blighted by construction noise close to my apartment building. Well now it's going to be 3 summers running, this year it will be our actual apartment building. Actually it was looking a little tatty and now we have 4 or 5 weeks of painting and repairs to look forward to. Half the scaffolding was erected today (whilst we were out). the hottest time of the year and the whole building will be wrapped up in a nylon tarpaulin. At least this isn't so long and we'll get a nice new exterior but still another summer working to the sounds of hammering, drilling and shouting 6 or 7 days a week. FFS.

Stil lots of stuff singing, most of the common species were around this last 3 days. Chestnut Eared and Black Throated Bunting, Oriental and Black Browed Reed Warblers, Northern Hobby, Cuckoo, Brown Thrush, Night Heron, Lathams Snipe, Siberian Stonechat, Pacific Swift, Russet Sparrow etc............

This morning we stopped at Shikabe for a look at the Japanese Green Pigeons.

The only time they landed I wasn't paying attention and my settings were all wrong and they were well overexposed, I could rescue them a little on the computer though.

Offshore at Sawara there were lots of dolphins and at Onuma there wasn't much at all birdwise, here's a Red Fox instead.

Yesterday we went to Kikonai, I was hoping the Swinhoes Egret would still be around. It wasn't but there was this species.

A crappy record shot of an adult Striated Heron, fairly scarce up here. By the time I had walked down the river and crossed the bridge and walked back down the other side to get a closer view it had disappeared.

No waders passing through yet (well it is way too early although I have seen the odd ones in late July down the years) but the breeding Common Sandpipers and Little Ringed Plovers were both present. Oh and lots of Ospreys again.

Thanks for clicking this link.......

And so it begins........

A male Red Cheeked Starling near my apartment this afternoon........

It was busily grabbing all the food it could, presumably to feed its nestlings.

I spent a whole afternoon watching them (the construction noise was unbearable so I had to leave the flat). I've also changed the design of this blog as you can see........

It was tricky to get the exposure right as they kept dashing in and out of the shadows.

A Night Heron flew over but by the time I noticed it the opportunity for a photo had passed. Bird of the day was another Wryneck, a very difficult bird to get a decent shot of, here's a crappy record shot.

The Oriental Reed Warblers allowed me to capture them in some slightly new poses.

So the World Cup begins very soon, just time for a bite to eat and a bath before I settle down to watch the first game. I'm not going to make any predictions about England (don't want to jinx them) but I bet you neither Spain or Brazil will win it.............

Wryneck

A Wryneck in Goryokaku Park this morning. It was calling loudly (the call is very similar to a Grey Headed Woodpecker which I thought it was at first). Not a great shot but a nice find and the only migrant of the day.................summer must be coming as it was rather warm and humid too.

I got up early to take a Red Cheeked Starling video and this time I remembered to bring my tripod and the results were much better. If you double click on 'vimeo' you can check the HD version.

In the same tree was this Tree Sparrow. The HD version is quite good, click in the right.

It was a bit foggy/hazy and I aborted plans to catch a ferry to Oma to check out the offshore Pharalope migration. Mt Hakodate was also very misty in the morning so I went to Yunokawa. I could see flocks flying west about 500 meters out, record shots confirmed they were all Red Necked Pharalopes (I couldn't find any Red Pharalopes which would have been a local tick).

On this day (May 11th)....................

May 11th 2007.

Wryneck at Yunokawa.

Not a great shot but the only quarter decent one I've ever managed of this species. This is a fairly common spring and autumn migrant, I usually see 2 or 3 a year.

This one was in the trees and bushes adjacent to the river in Yunokawa. Sadly a lot of them have been cut down as the city government 'improves' the river...............

Wryneck

A Wryneck at Yunokawa this afternoon. A very pleasant spring day and my first visit to the easternmost part of my patch for a while. The Wryneck was the most interesting species and Oriental Great Reed Warbler were the noisiest.



An abundant summer vistor to southern Hokkaido they seemingly sing from any bush near any water. They get bolder as spring develops and sing at the top of bushes so I should be able to get much better photos than this one.



Little Ringed Plovers has also arrived. Other species at Yunokawa included Stonechat, Chestnut Eared, Reed and Black Faced Buntings, Japanese Thrush, Blue & White Flycatcher, Grey Wagtail and the usual common stuff. Here are some photos from the last few days in Hakodate. A Stonechat today, a male Wigeon near my flat earlier in the week and a male Red Cheeked Starling in amongst the cherry blossoms a couple of days ago.









Yesterday in the local park there were lots of Japanese White-eye and a lone male Siskin. Not so many migrants though. Here's a couple of Slaty Backed Gulls relaxing in the park.